Page 35 of Never Really Over

“Because,” she says, panting like she just ran the entire way to get here. “You said holy s-word and then said you had to go and I was worried.”

My eyebrows shoot up to my hairline and I look down at Poppy. “Because Tootsie Pop here decided this morning was the time to learn how to walk on her own.”

Layla looks between Poppy and me as her mouth opens and closes, then again, and when she opens it again she says simply, “Oh.”

I roll my eyes and push the door open farther. It feels a little like Dalton’s surprise visit all over again. Not necessarily welcome or unwelcome, just… weird. “Come on in. We were just getting ready to have breakfast. You like scrambled eggs?”

“You don’t…”

“Stop. You came all this way in a panic, least I can do is feed you. I’ll just throw a few more eggs in the pan. Want some coffee?”

I strap Poppy into her high chair and spill a handful of puffs onto her tray out of the container, snap the lid back on, and set it on the counter then fill a sippy cup with some water and set it on the tray as well.

Meanwhile, Layla is still standing in the doorway.

“Are you coming in, or not?” I ask, a little more sharply than I intended.

“This is your niece?”

I turn around and lean my butt against the counter, hands resting on the ledge. “Well, it’s certainly not a random baby I just picked up off the street. Yes. This is Poppy, Natalie’s little girl. As you know, Natalie is no longer with us and they were smart enough to have a will made up soon after she was born. They left her to me and now I’m all she has. And she’s all I have.”

I watch as Layla swallows hard and looks down at the floor. She shakes her head lightly and when she looks back up, I see tears in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

I shrug. “Nothing for you to be sorry for.”

“I wasn’t here.”

“You haven’t been here for a long time, Layla, and that’s not a slam, it’s just the way it is. If you’d have been here with me, nothing would have changed the fact that my sister and brother-in-law died. You moving to Chicago didn’t cause the accident.”

Layla nods and whispers, “Yeah.”

“Well, that sounds real convincing,” I say, chuckling.

In the past, I would have gone to her, held her, helped her to see the truth. But that was then, this is now.

“There was a mention of coffee?” she says.

“Cups right there,” I tell her, pointing to the cupboard above the coffee pot. “You take creamer? Milk? Sugar?”

“What kind of creamer do you have?”

“Something in a purple bottle that sounded good to me. It’s kind of sweet but it’s not bad.”

She laughs. “That’ll do.” Layla pulls a cup down from the cupboard and pours a cup. “No Keurig, huh?”

“Judging me for my coffee maker?”

“Actually, no. I prefer this.”

“Have a seat.”

She does and I give Poppy a few more puffs and pick up the sippy she just dropped on the floor then go about finishing up the eggs.

“She’s cute.”

“She’s definitely cute,” I agree, looking over my shoulder at Poppy. I give her a wink and big smile and she smiles back. “Right, Tootsie Pop? You’re the most adorable little girl in the whole wide world, aren’t you?”

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